The invention relates generally to microfluidic systems, and more particularly to microfluidic flow cells and manifolds that may be used in biochemical analysis.
Numerous recent advances in the study of biology have benefited from improved methods of analysis and sequencing of nucleic acids. For example, the Human Genome Project has determined the sequence of the human genome. However, there are still vast amounts of genomic material to analyze, e.g., genetic variation between different individuals, tissues, the genomes of additional species, etc.
In order to expedite the analysis of genetic material, a number of new DNA sequencing technologies have recently been reported that are based on the parallel analysis of amplified and unamplified molecules. These new technologies frequently rely upon the detection of fluorescent nucleotides and oligonucleotides. Furthermore, these new technologies frequently depend upon heavily automated processes that must perform at a high level of precision. For example, a computing system may control a fluid flow subsystem that is responsible for initiating several cycles of reactions within a microfluidic flow cell. These cycles may be performed with different solutions and/or temperature and flow rates. However, in order to control the fluid flow subsystem a variety of pumping devices must be operated. Some of these devices have movable parts that may disturb or negatively affect the reading and analyzing of the fluorescent signals. Furthermore, after each cycle the pumps may need to be exchanged or cleaned thereby increasing the amount of time to complete the cycles.
Thus, there is a need in the industry for flow cells or other microfluidic components that do not have movable parts and/or facilitate reducing the amount of time necessary to complete analyses.